Jared Axelrod and Steve Walker talk about a noir mystery with talking animals, the gorgeously illustrated BLACKSAD.

Blacksad
By Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido

This episode also featured music by:

Muddy Waters
"Mannish Boy" (mp3)
from "The Lost Tapes"
(Blind Pig Records)

Buy at Amazon MP3

In which an old voice returns, the oddness of the wind is mentioned,  a hotel is appraised, the wealth of the wicked is tallied, definititons are relaxed, scrolls are hunted for, docks are seen, piracy motivations are considered, and the temperature and sweetness of fruit is judged.

Special thanks to Jennifer Summerfield for reading this episode.

You can ask Hanner Gatling anything at her Formspring page: http://www.formspring.me/HannerGatling She will answer. Of that you can be sure.

The Fables of the Flying City theme was written and performed by Russell Collins of www.clockworkaudio.net

In the St. Lawrence River, the one that goes from NY to Canada, biologists have discovered pods of beluga whales with cancer. Not just with cancer, but with the highest cancer rates of any wild animal studied. Some of the dead whales are so suffused with pollutants that they qualify as hazardous waste.

Researchers have also found something else in the river: Botulism. Botulism is a disease caused by a bacterial toxin that cause paralysis, and, if not properly treated, death. It's in the fish, in the birds, the entire wildlife. It's in the soil.

And it's beautiful place. Even in the danger area, the "Area of Concern," as the Environmental Protection Agency calls it. It's one of the prettiest rivers you'll see.

This is a river that is still fished in. It is a river that people bring their families to, to boat and swim in. This river, home to toxins, to cancerous animals is frequently swam in by children.

As the world around us becomes slowly poisoned, we are determined to not let it ruin our routines. Guest reader and composer Russell Collins explores this bizarre form of courage in this episode, THE WATER'S FINE.

Russell Collins is a musical composer and singer. In addition to reading the preceding story, he also wrote the performed the score, as well as the VoFPX theme. You can find out more about Russell atwww.clockworkaudio.net

"Floating Away" was performed by Folio and was made available curtsey of the of the Podsafe Music Network. You can find out more about them at www.folioband.com.

ALIENS YOU WILL MEET, another fine Free Planet X studios podcast, is going to have a live show at Dragon*Con in Atlanta. Live, real puppets will be enacting a very special extended narration, and I hope to see you there.